Welcome to Joseph Young’s Puzzle –ria!
Let us commence this week’s festivities with a Bonus Easy As Pie Slice (BEAPS), just to warm up our cerebral ovens.
Remember that Rockwellian sportsman (pictured at right) from Joseph Young’s Puzzle -ria! of June 6? (Not pictured is the duck-hunting rifle in the hull of his fishing boat.) We asked you to name two pieces of sportsmen’s gear and a sportsman’s quest.This week we are asking you to name what might be this American sportsman’s favorite foreign holiday, based on two different homophones of its syllables. The homophones are two quests this sportsman might land/bag, and one rhymes with all three of the June 6 puzzle’s answers. What are the homophones and holiday?
In my patriotic (or rather, jingoistic) zeal last week, I feel I may have flouted the nation of France. This week I plan to remedy that. My mother’s “maiden name,” after all, was Paquette.
Par consequent, Soyez Les bienvenus! Je suis content que vous soyez de retour. July 14 is Bastille Day, celebrating French independence from monarchic rule.
The American poet, author and critic Delmore Schwartz died 48 years ago today, on July 11, 1966. As a young man Schwartz wrote a fine poem titled “Baudelaire,” a reference to French poet Charles Baudelaire.
Thus, one or maybe two of Joseph Young’s Puzzle –ria! slices this week are topped with poivrons rouges, oignons blancs and fromage blue. But don’t let that questionable spelling of “bleu” fool you. We are true-bleu, Mel Blanc-talkin’, rouge-wearin’ French folks. Indeed, every slice this week is also served with a complimentary side of French (not Freedom!) fries. We know you will rave about those fried julienned spuds, and we trust you can Ravel (or unRavel?) these Fourth of July slices too. (Ravel = one of those pesky words that means two polar opposites!):
Menu
Specialty of the House Slice
Disgusting Drinks
Take a chiefly Southern U.S. intensive slang euphemism used to express disgust. It is often followed by “…it!” Spell the euphemism backward, bisect it, and add a possessive apostrophe “s” to the end of the second part, thereby forming a pair of brand names of a particular potable. What are the brands, the potable, and the euphemism?Poetic Slice
Broadway Baudelaire
Take the third different personal pronoun that appears in Delmore Schwartz’s poem “Baudelaire” and create a series of new words of increasing word lengths by:* adding a letter to the end
* adding a letter to the beginning
* adding a letter between the first and second letters
* adding a letter to the beginning
* adding a letter to the beginning
* adding a letter to the end, resulting in a title of a well-known Broadway musical and movie. Name the movie/musical.
Bicyclical Slice
Verpelier Gears
Le Tour de France bicycle race is currently occurring across the French countryside. Competitors in this annual event ride multiple-speed bicycles that employ a mechanism called a derailleur to downshift or upshift gears.
Within the past week, a bicyclist named LegoLambda coined the word “verpelier.” What is the basis (or rationale) for the word “verpelier? What do you suppose is the word’s etymology? How might you define it?
Every Friday at Joseph Young’s Puzzle -ria! we publish a new menu of fresh word puzzles, number puzzles, logic puzzles, puzzles of all varieties and flavors. We cater to cravers of scrumptious puzzles!
Our master chef, Grecian gourmet puzzle-creator Lego Lambda, blends and bakes up mysterious (and sometimes questionable) toppings and spices (such as alphabet soup, Mobius bacon strips, diced snake eyes, cubed radishes, “hominym” grits, anagraham crackers, rhyme thyme and sage sprinklings.)Please post your comments below. Feel free also to post clever and subtle hints that do not give the puzzle answers away. Please wait until after 3 p.m. Eastern Time on Tuesdays to post your answers and explain your hints about the puzzles. We plan to serve up at least one fresh puzzle every Friday.
We invite you to make it a habit to “Meet at Joe’s!” If you enjoy our weekly puzzle party, please tell your friends about Joseph Young’s Puzzle -ria! Thank you.
Last week it was math that did me in; this week it is that weird French language that has my head spinning! I'll be on vacation soon, so I'll be away from all puzzles and blogs anyway. Happy Bastille Day!
ReplyDeleteVive la France!
DeleteA tout a l'heure.
I have the Poetic Slice, but I don't think "God damit!" which translates to MAD DOG'S wine is going to cut the SOTH slice.
ReplyDeleteI forgot to mention that VERmont (Green Hill[s]) and MontPELIER (shorn hill) becomes VERPELIER if you remove the hills!
Deleteron,
DeleteSo then, your definition of “verpelier” would be: “when the title charater in this movie goes to the barber to get his ears lowered.”
LeGollDurnIt!
Bob K.,
ReplyDeleteVery disturbing Linda Blair image! But that’s okay, we all know you are possessed only by the best of angels.
Nothing all all French has infected this week’s SOTHS; I infer that you live north of the Masie-Dixie Line, but I still bet you could figure that one out.
Have a great vacation!
Legorcism
Could I buy a vowel, please?
ReplyDeleteThere's no problem, only solutions.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteHints:
ReplyDeleteSOTHS: The potable is a radical brew.
PS: The name of the movie/musical also appears in a Hollies song title.
BS: ron is a smart guy.
Legone-it!
Poetic Slice:
ReplyDeleteus
use
ruse
rouse
arouse
carouse
CAROUSEL
Bicyclical Slice:
Joël Pelier rode the longest lone breakaway (4½ hrs.) in the 1989 Tour de France to win the 6th stage & in a later stage collapsed from exhaustion into a coma. “Ver”ité can mean truth, so “verpelier” can signify “truth rider” and in the Tour de France the “time trial” is called the “ride of truth” so “verpelier” can mean also “time trialist,” who rides using a “verpelier gear.” It can also mean a “skinned worm!” Or it can be a citizen of the French Commune of VERPEL, or, as I indicated earlier, a “hill-less State+Capital.”
I have no idea as to the SOTH Slice.
As I said “Goddam(it)” becomes Mad Dog's Wine. The potable EVIAN spelled backward becomes NAIVE. That's the best I can do.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteron, Great research on Joel Pelier, the Tour de France and “truth riders.” Again, a Puzzlerian!’s solution is better than my own! I put the whole Tour de France/bicycle scenario in the puzzle because verpelier echoed derailleur. It was a misdirection, a red herring. But, like the resourceful person who is given lemons and makes lemonade, you made out Smoked Herring Smoprgas with Fresh Dill out of red herrings,
ReplyDeleteWord Woman,
I see that PEOTS is already uploaded. Looks very interesting.
Answers:
Bonus Easy As Pie Slice (BEAPS):
Answer:
That Rockwellian American sportsman’s favorite foreign holiday is Bastille Day. The homophones, which are two quests this sportsman might land/bag, are “bass” and “teal.”
“Teal,” which the sportsman would bag using the duck-hunting rifle in the hull of his fishing boat, rhymes with the June 6 puzzle’s answers: eel, creel and reel, which the sportsman would use to catch the bass.
Specialty of the House Slice:
Take a chiefly Southern U.S. intensive slang euphemism used to express disgust. It is often followed by “…it!” Spell the euphemism backward, bisect it, and add a possessive apostrophe “s” to the end of the second part, thereby forming a pair of brand names of a particular potable. What are the brands, the potable, and the euphemism?
Answer:
dadgum is the euphemism; root beer is the potable; Mug and Dad’s are the brands.
Poetic Slice
Take the third different personal pronoun that appears in Delmore Schwartz’s poem “Baudelaire” and create a series of new words of increasing word lengths by:
* adding a letter to the end
* adding a letter to the beginning
* adding a letter between the first and second letters
* adding a letter to the beginning
* adding a letter to the beginning
* adding a letter to the end, resulting in a title of a well-known Broadway musical and movie. Name the movie/musical.
Answer:
The third different pronoun in the poem is US:
USE
RUSE
ROUSE
AROUSE
CAROUSE
CAROUSEL
Bicyclical Slice
Le Tour de France bicycle race is currently occurring across the French countryside. Competitors in this annual event ride multiple-speed bicycles that employ a mechanism called a derailleur to downshift or upshift gears.
Within the past week, a bicyclist named LegoLambda coined the word “verpelier.” What is the basis (or rationale) for the word “verpelier? What do you suppose is the word’s etymology? How might you define it?
Answer:
As ron astutely noted in his July 11 comment, “verpelier” is Vermont and Montpelier, minus the “monts.” (Vermont is the only state with a last syllable identical to its capital’s first syllable.) My only basis or rationale for coining “verpelier” was to combine the two non-identical parts of a state and its capital.
ron also gave a very fine etymological synopsis: ver-mont = green hill(s); mont-pelier = hill(s) shorn. Thus the etymology of “verpelier” might be “green shorn” (not to be confused with greenhorns).
Given that etymology, the definition if “verpelier” might be “the lawnmower that cuts golf course greens.” Or, given the basis of the word’s genesis, a verpelier could be a “couple of people who have a mutual acquaintance but do not know each other,” or perhaps instead “two people who meet through a mutual acquaintance.”
My hints, posted July 14:
SOTHS: The potable is a radical brew:
radical = root; brew = beer
PS: The name of the movie/musical also appears in a Hollies song title:
On a Carousel
BS: ron is a smart guy.
ron was astute in his July 11 comments. (BS, of course, stands for Bicyclical Slice, not B*** S***!)
LegoJoe, I only came up with bass and teal for Bastille...but I thought it was too EZ.
DeleteI don't believe I have ever uttered "dadgum" in my life.
Your last definition for "velpelier" could figure into this week's PEOTS (thanks for the link).
We are into serious monsoon season here with a big hail and rain storm last night and another one about to start this afternoon. Duck and cover!
WW
I had no idea I had hit on the correct answer to "Verpelier;;" I just assumed it was another non-intended answer! I did not intend to give away the answer.
DeleteI have never heard of the brand name MUG until now.
Except for the BEAPS, I got shut out this week.
ReplyDeleteAs penance, a French riddle:
What do you call a Frenchperson who, in a tragic toilet cleaning accident, has everything from the right finger tips to the right shoulder flushed into the famous Paris sewer system?
David,
DeleteThat’s what the priest said when I was kid in the confessional: “For your penance, Lego, say three Our Fathers, four Hail Mary’s, and solve one of David’s French puzzles.”
Well, the Our Fathers and Hail Marys were a snap, but I didn’t have a prayer trying to solve your puzzle. The best I can muster is an answer I know you did not intend: “Venus-demi loo”
(Incidentally, is the Paris Sewer System where they sewed the Bayeux Tapestry? The Bishop of Bayeux was a guy named Odo{r}.
I deserve penance this week. Mea Maxima Culpa.
LegoGardyloo
A gendarme.
DeleteVery good, David. In light of your answer, I would now like to change mine to "A looed appendage."
DeleteThanks for the answer, David. " Bras droit en les egouts " just wasn't cutting it!
DeleteI am going on vacation. I wasn't going to comment at all, but I can't not. (Is that a double negative?)
ReplyDeleteFirst, for the BEAPS - I was very surprised to see the puzzle stated and then solved in the next paragraph. Very unusual strategy!
And just now, with respect to the SOTHS, I must ask, "How Can This Be?" I refer you to Joon Pahk's daily game of Guess My Word. If you don't care to play the game, you can just click on "I give up! Tell me!"
Oops! You have to scroll down to the bottom of the leaderboard and click on "You might also want to try to guess words chosen by: mike"
ReplyDeleteBob K.,
DeleteI cannot argue with you about the BEAPS.
Thank for the "Guess MY Word" link. I just played it for the first time; I got mike's word on my first attempt. (But I admit to having some "inside information.") I think I'll quit while I'm way, way ahead.
I believe this dagnab happy accident is what Word Woman and jan refer to as a "coincidence." It's a small world of words after all!
(Actually, I think I will revisit the GMW site. It seems kind of fun and a good vocabulary builder.)
Lego and Bob K (double negative so you're positive right ;-)?)
DeleteI also went to the site...It made me drop my jaw and utter "dadgum!"
Word "A first time for Everything" Woman
Puzzleria! patrons,
ReplyDeleteThere is one more conundrum (and possible solution) I would like to discuss before we serve up Friday’s fresh new Puzzleria! menu of puzzles. I am happy to announce that I have hit on a possible explanation to a puzzle that has intrigued and stymied the the American people for more than two-score years: the whereabouts of 1971 jet hijacker and extorter of $200,000,D.B. Cooper.
Those of you who are familiar with Blaine’s Puzzle Blog are also familiar with a frequent Blainesville comment poster from the Pacific Northwest who knows his way around a parachute, and whose screen name’s monogram includes a D and a B, in that order.
Coincidence? I defer to jan and Word Woman and other “coincidence aficionados.”
(Kinda reminds me of an old Columbo episode co-starring Johnny Cash.)
LegoJuniorDetective
As sure as corundum is 9 on Moh's hardness scale, I think you've solved this conundrum, lego. sdb it is!
DeleteI dunno, sounds flimsy to me. Plus, the evidence seems mostly to point to D. B. Cooper being dead.
Deletejan,
DeleteThanks for stopping in for a bite. But you’re not telling me, are you, that sdb has been posting all this time from his harptop computer in… heaven? No wonder his comments are so inspired, his puns so empyrean, his wit so otherworldly!
Word Woman is correct, of course, but so are you. It’s a simple syllogism:
Premise 1: skydive boy = D.B. Cooper
Premise 2: D.B. Cooper = “gone on to that great dive high in the sky”
Conclusion: skydive boy = “rubbing elbows (and wings) with angels”
S.D.B.Cooper, R.I.P. (Ripost In Peevishness)
LegoCyberCelestially
So sorry to disappoint, but while the 'chutes that were delivered to D. B. Cooper came from the dropzone where I made my first jumps and my first jump instructor was there when the State Patrol officer raced into the facility in order to obtain said 'chutes, I in fact did not make my first jump until August 16, 1981.
DeleteAs jan notes above, Cooper died that night, or at least hours later. Of this I have never doubted. BTW, the freeze dried peanuts were stale! Yuk!
Correction:
DeleteI meant to say dry roasted peanuts.